Nameless
Nameless, or more politely, Without Surname, is a Mobian legal and social term that refers to an individual who simply does not possess a last name. These are individuals whose ancestors decided not to take a name of a Namesake, or did not decide to make their own name. Description The concept of a Nameless Mobian dates back to the days of the Terra Novan colonists in the 24th Century. During the time when Humanity was caring for the newly evolving Mobians (known as Anthros at the time), some Humans decided to take them into their homes and bring them up as if they were family. This way, the Mobians could be taught about history, science, and other educational topics. One of the actions that the Humans also did was give the Mobians surnames as they were part of their family now. So, an early Mobian by the name of Laura would be known as Laura Smith after being taken in by the Human family of the same name. Other Mobians didn't have Namesakes, but chose to make last names for themselves regardless, oftentimes looking up names in books and taking them for themselves. It's not unlikely to come across surnames like Shakespeare, Wilde, Potter, or Baggins even. Some names were puns on their species name that just stuck. Nameless Mobians on the other hand are totally different. These are individuals that chose not to take any form of surname whatsoever and chose to use their species as a surname. A joke with Nameless Mobians is that their middle name is 'The' (e.g. Brenda the Longhair, Elmer the Dog, Arthur the Wolf). This may have started out as a joke, but it has evolved into a truth. On legal forms, Nameless Mobians indeed put their middle name as 'T.' As of 3239, approximately 7% of the Mobian population is considered Nameless and this 7% spans multiple social classes ranging from diplomats to soldiers to the middle class and even down to beggars. There has been a common misconception that Nameless Mobians are treated badly by Named Mobians, but this has been thought to be untrue given extensive study by sociologists at Knothole University. True, there is indeed some social stigmatization, but the levels of which are easily negligable. This seems present in childhood, but as the individual grows up, this seems to diminish. There are indeed ways for a Nameless individual to gain a name. One way is through simply legally registering a name with the Census Bureau, or one can take a surname through marriage to a Named Mobian, or any other species with a surname. If the individual so chooses, they can take their spouse's surname for their own. It does not matter if the Nameless Mobian is male or female, it works the same way. In the case of the former, it brings a complication to the one choosing a name. Some individuals report that they simply 'have trouble thinking of one' since they have lived with their species surname all their life. The most commonly adopted surname that a Nameless Mobian takes is 'Woods', which may be a reference to the fact that most Mobians were descended from woodland creatures. An interesting thing to note is that sometimes Mobians will refer to themselves without surnames even though they might legally have one. This may contribute to a drifter mentality, a sense that they don't belong in society, or that it might be a sign of lonliness or detachment. Thankfully, these cases are rare. Behind the Scenes It is a common practice in cartoons to have characters that do not possess a last name. In the case of cartoon animals, they technically do, but these are mostly Species Surnames. In the Chaos Chronicles, Species Surnames do not legally count as a recognized last name, since there potentially could be hundreds of people named 'the Hedgehog' running around Mobius (pun not intended). The benefit of a last name for a Mobian character makes them so much more dynamic than just a cardboard cutout character. That being said, Nameless characters bring a dynamicism to Mobian society where there are those that choose to live without surnames. Eventually, Nameless Mobians might fade to the point where it makes sense for all of them to convert to a Named structure. I guess I just was not fond of having characters that just had something simple as a species surname. This way, there is more thought put into the character. Appearances *All Chaos Chronicles Stories Category:Lore Category:Mobius